I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get this line of reasoning. Money and fame should be the measure for success, not what AI thinks.

It’s not about “what AI thinks”. It’s about what AI’s express purpose is– to produce music artists. It’s not “America’s Got Talent”. It is a “singing competition” where contestants compete for a recording contract. Some who don’t win the automatic contract, nonetheless use the exposure to land themselves a record deal anyway, and some in this group do quite well.

Then, you have others, who use the recognition they get from Idol to land Broadway roles, get jobs in television, become actors and actresses, etc. That’s fine. Good on them for parlaying their exposure on AI into a career they probably wouldn’t have otherwise been able to obtain.

But, I refuse to consider those in the latter group in the same category as those in the former group. Kelly and Carrie became music superstars. They are very successfully doing what Idol intended for them to do.

Kat is MAYBE on her way to becoming a Hollywood star. She used her television exposure to showcase her looks and, uh, talent(?). As I said, good for her, but she should never be viewed the same way Kelly and Carrie are. She failed when she tried to do what they have so successfully been able to do.

And, going further, I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t care that Taylor and Fantasia and Clay have found their niches on Broadway and are having great runs there. They still are not or at least are not any longer, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“music starsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ , and so they should not be viewed in the same category as those alum who currently are relevant mainstream music artists.

No argument regarding Taylor or Clay, but I’m going to disagree regarding Fantasia. She had one of the biggest singles in urban radio a couple of years ago, and her follow up album went gold. That might be considered a “flop” by Idol standards, but when you consider that R&B artists usually don’t move a lot of albums, I’d say that’s a pretty decent showing. Fantasia will probably never be mainstream, but very few R&B artists manage to crossover to pop. I don’t think the fact that she hasn’t crossed over diminishes her standing among Idol winners. IMO, she is a relevant artist, even if she isn’t a mainstream one.

saga Jun 1st, 2009 at 5:10 pm

For the guitar work Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d check out the live videos (they are just over a minute long, but you get the idea) of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Turning Onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Bad Reputationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and full studio version of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Nocturnal By The Moon.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBBEgbix40g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8WWakBegN0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fDD2mgaj3E

I actually donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t like these live performances. I think Adam has some really plain clothes and heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s too damn thin. Also the guitars are just one mess too me. Maybe the sounds is bad? Not a guitar prof but my guitar teacher showed me today how you could have one guitar doing the simple rock chords and a second guitar doing more finger works. It was beautiful. So I would drop in a second guitar there to give some refinement and variation!

The sound really did suck. But, Monte Pittman (the guitarist) has made big bucks fronting for Madonna on her “Celebration” tour and so did the drummer. I’m not saying he is a good or great guitarist either. Adam is not all about OTT all the time and they weren’t playin’ glam-rock!

For the guitar work Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d check out the live videos (they are just over a minute long, but you get the idea) of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Turning Onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Bad Reputationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and full studio version of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Nocturnal By The Moon.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBBEgbix40g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8WWakBegN0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fDD2mgaj3E

I actually don’t like these live performances. I think Adam has some really plain clothes and he’s too damn thin. Also the guitars are just one mess too me. Maybe the sounds is bad? Not a guitar prof but my guitar teacher showed me today how you could have one guitar doing the simple rock chords and a second guitar doing more finger works. It was beautiful. So I would drop in a second guitar there to give some refinement and variation!

but now ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pretty much just an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹ironicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ expression for when a modern Southerner wants to point out false impressions about those states below the Mason Dixon.

Damn girl! You get me! You rock ETR!

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get this line of reasoning. Money and fame should be the measure for success, not what AI thinks. If Kat McPhee scores as a movie star instead of as a singer, she should still be considered terrifically successful, especially when sheà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s earning megabucks and starring in successful movies.

They seem to embrace Jennifer Hudson because she also sings, but never mention Kat. If she really breaks through as a major star, I can’t imagine that they won’t bring her back on the show — first and foremost they care about ratings.

I can actually hear the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“whoEVAH.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

you put a bug in my toddy, sugah?

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“War of Northern Agressionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  is just an old joke. Some die hards back in the day actually used to call the Civil War by that name. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m sure somewhere someone still does, but now ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pretty much just an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹ironicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ expression for when a modern Southerner wants to point out false impressions about those states below the Mason Dixon.

I’m sorry, but in Mississippi the term “Civil War” does not appear on the official state plaques marking the battlefield sights or the towns that were burned to the ground. It is refered to officially referred as the “War of Northern Agression”. And this war was about more then slavery, it is a complex but often simplified part of US history.

And I agree with MJ, there was nothing civil about the “Civil War” — it was the most costly war in US history in lives, property and karmic damage. Frankly, it took Mississippi over 100 years to get past the war and the “reconstruction” that followed.

Mississippians face a lot of foolish stereotypes but none is worse than the broad brush that we are a bunch of racists. I for one am not, and proudly reside in a town in Mississippi that volentarily desegrated it’s schools in the 1950 — without a court order, where we have never had US Justice Dept. Civil Rights reps at our polls and where a diverse group of religious leaders — black and white — worked for 50 years to convert America’s poorest county (1950 census) into one of the Mississippi’s most prosperous. And things have changed even in Philadelphia, MS, the town made famous in the movie “Mississippi Burning” and most noted for the racial violence, murders, and other civil rights violations that occurred in the mid 1960s, a town that is only 40% black but just elected a black man as their mayor.

The stated raison dà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢etre of AI is to produce recording stars, not to provide a platform for contestants to grab hold of a career in any of field of entertainment that will have them.

I don’t get this line of reasoning. Money and fame should be the measure for success, not what AI thinks. If Kat McPhee scores as a movie star instead of as a singer, she should still be considered terrifically successful, especially when she’s earning megabucks and starring in successful movies.

What is the War of Northern Agression? Do you mean the American Civil War?

Cultural differences are interesting.

“War of Northern Agression” is just an old joke. Some die hards back in the day actually used to call the Civil War by that name. I’m sure somewhere someone still does, but now it’s pretty much just an ‘ironic’ expression for when a modern Southerner wants to point out false impressions about those states below the Mason Dixon.

ETA:

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦I think these continuing slurs and bigoted comments against the Southern Race should be stopped immediately.
à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦And, WHOEVER up there: get an education! The War of Northern Aggression, otherwise known as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The War (pronounced: whaw-wah)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  was NOT a civil matter!

Kinda like this rather awesome one. Hee!

I can actually hear the “whoEVAH.”

…I think these continuing slurs and bigoted comments against the Southern Race should be stopped immediately.
…And, WHOEVER up there: get an education! The War of Northern Aggression, otherwise known as “The War (pronounced: whaw-wah)” was NOT a civil matter!

I am trying to understand the correlation between MO being à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“a slave stateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and American Idol votes?

It was late and my shorthand way of saying that MO is a Southern state by history and heritage. More importantly, it is in the high AI viewership and high AT&T/Cingular market area which means David Cook had a strong advantage in voting.

I have looked at all kinds of analysis of the AI vote, and I keep coming back to the same thing. A West Coast contestant goes into the AI competition at a disadvantage. I’m not saying that someone form the West can’t win, just that it’s a hard path. So in Adam’s case, if you add in his edgy style, the gay question, the fact that he’s not Christian, and the anti-judges’ pimping factors, I’m not surprised he didn’t win the AI vote — even though he has more fans than Kris.

Just a fly-by to chuckle a little at attempts to narrowly define/confine rock music. LOL

I have been pretty puzzled about what the definition of rock music is lately.